WASHINGTON, Feb 1 —President Donald Trump yesterday said Iran was negotiating with the United States, even as the Islamic republic’s army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.

“(Iran is) talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens...We have a big fleet heading out there,” he told Fox News.

“They are negotiating,” Trump said.

Trump added that US allies in region were not being told of plans for possible strikes due to security reasons. He has threatened to intervene in Iran in the wake of a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

“Well, we can’t tell them the plan. If I told them the plan, it would be almost as bad as telling you the plan—it could be worse, actually,” he said.

Washington has deployed a naval strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off Iran’s shores. — AFP